30 replies to this topic

[littlejohn33]

I have an internet cafe in a smaller town in the Philippines. I'm wondering if MWO would be a good game for my cafe. I would have to buy new computers to run it but we're thinking of getting a loan to do so as it would nearly tripple our net return.

Right now THE most popular game is Blackshot. It is a fast paced free to play shooter. I'm wondering how MWO would compare to it? I know one big difference is that you normaly have only one Mech to use per game. I'm concerned that this would slow the pace down to much to gather intrest. But thier was mention of a mode where you can use up to 4 Mechs. Would that make it more comparable to Blackshot? Is it easy to get into this type of game?

John

[Arkhell]

well such a mode would prolly take a while to get here is my geuss. appart from the intial getting used to lower body (legs )and upper body (torso)movement and arms it's really not "that hard" to get into the game.

so it could be a decent F2P game for a café

[Tardstrong]

The major difference is that this is a mech sim game (slower, more thought to movement and firing) and not a shooter (most are run & gun).
As far as I know 12 vs 12 is a one and done affair. However if there is only a little downtime between the end of a match and the beginning of another this shouldn't matter too much.
As a cafe owner perhaps you might offer free time on 4 of your machines during open beta for a limited amount of time. This would be to allow people to form groups when starting the game; and groups tend to do better than solo play. If you can get a group to feel invested in the game you will have repeat customers.

[littlejohn33]

We're accross form a college so our weedays are better than weekends I'm hoping to change that by buying the best computers in town (A8-3870) and to kick it off I was thinking of making a whole weekend a 1 hour free mechwarrior intro for those computers(or a free game/match). I suspect it will be open beta before I can get the computers nothing happens fast here.

Here it is difficult to get people to try new games unless they see their frinds playing it so something like this is necissary.

Edit: Oh I only plan to buy 10 new computers I asume they have a 5 vs 5?

Edited by littlejohn33, 31 August 2012 - 03:55 AM.

[Nacon]

Ehh... I'd have to say it's depends on the PC machines. From my experience, most cafe PCs are under-performed for such games running on CryEngine 3. Since I don't know the spec... I looked at the requirement for Blackshot... it's pretty low.

For MWO, I wouldn't bet on it.

[littlejohn33]

I'm looking at Llano A8-3870s quad core with built in 6550D graphics 3D mark score 2290 for comparison a ATI 6770 has a 3D Mark score of 2560 and a AtI 6670 has a score of 1780. So its well above the min and almost as good as the recomended.

[Kaemon]

I didn't even know internet cafes were still around, they seem to have died off in the U.S for the most part...

Hopefully down the road we get a local server 'run your own' option, that would fit very nicely in this model, and you could save a ton on bandwidth for a small monthly/annual/per player fee (no idea how that would work).

[littlejohn33]

Lots of internet cafes here in the Philippines most people cant even aford the 28 cents/12 pesos per hour I charge much less a computer of thier own/ My tech doesent even have his own computer but uses his fiances laptop a lot. Though in larger cities they are thining out as people get really fancy cell phones or bottom end used laptops etc...

[Dymitry]

Actually it might. It is a fairly complex game, surely more than most fps out there. I was considering what you were saying about a lot of people not owning a pc and combined with the facts that: 1) it takes time to learn properly 2) its heavily team based 3) it should not be pay per win, rewarding players who spend a lot of time playing. Well, it could very well hook quite a few people to your shop!

[Wolfclaw]

littlejohn33, on 31 August 2012 - 03:53 AM, said:

We're accross form a college so our weedays are better than weekends I'm hoping to change that by buying the best computers in town (A8-3870) and to kick it off I was thinking of making a whole weekend a 1 hour free mechwarrior intro for those computers(or a free game/match). I suspect it will be open beta before I can get the computers nothing happens fast here.

Here it is difficult to get people to try new games unless they see their frinds playing it so something like this is necissary.

Edit: Oh I only plan to buy 10 new computers I asume they have a 5 vs 5?

Buy 8 computers and get those 8 to group up.

There is no 5v5, currently only 8v8, there will be 12v12 at launch.

[Redshift2k5]

I think the best thing would be to have a fluid game menu that changes based on what you like and what your customers like. Obviously you know the demographic better than us folks in north america or europe.

If your customers enjoy big stompy mech battles and are wiling to pay for the privilege? The players in the cafe will be able to group and play together, which should provide a fun experience.

[ScrapIron Prime]

A lot of the internet cafes in that region are limited to less computer-intensive online games, such as Navy Field. If you can put together 8 machines tough enough to run MWO, I think you'll have a competitive advantage against other cafes. The trick will be recouping your investment in a reasonable time, because those computers won't be cheap.

[littlejohn33]

One reason I think it might go over well is team play is very popular here they do everything in groups (which is one reason its hard to get new games started). The culture is not individualistic at all.

I was planning on 10 computers because thats what we have room for. I might consider 12 if I can figure where to put them though.

An in house group/clan is a good idea.

Like I said it will probably be open Beta before I can get the computers. Will have to see what kind of retail packs they have then. Money is tight for us right now but the internet cafe s picking up, still I wont have money for a founder pack for a couple months at best. We've just been in bussiness for about 3 months.

I showed my tech a bunch of the videos and he is excited about it if we can get the better computers. We just hope that its not too important to pay monthly. I myself dont like monthly comitments but would consider ocasional packs (when we have extra money) or an anual thing if its reasonable.

[littlejohn33]

With a 19 inch monitor a setup will cost about $370 thats dollars. With my rough geussing it will take our net income from $360 a month with 10 computers to over $1000 a month with 22. So it would nearly triple my net as my daily costs only go up for electric and maybe a bit more for my tech. My biggest expense now is internet, electric is second.

Of course this is assuming we get enough costomers to fill the place 10 hours a day. As far as I know the best cafe computers in town right now are Athlon dual cores at 2.3GZ with GT9500 cards. I think haveing computers twice as good as anyone else will bring in the customers. Oh and most of my computers now are Pentium 4s with 210 graphics cards. Very low end but play Blackshot well on low settings. Our biggest draw now is location and internet speed. Though for weekends we dont have a good location it is better during the week. That is one reason for this.

The Llanos have gone down a lot, probalby clearing stock for the Trinity's. Down a third in the last few months.

[Redshift2k5]

littlejohn33, on 31 August 2012 - 05:50 AM, said:

One reason I think it might go over well is team play is very popular here they do everything in groups (which is one reason its hard to get new games started). The culture is not individualistic at all.

I was planning on 10 computers because thats what we have room for. I might consider 12 if I can figure where to put them though.

An in house group/clan is a good idea.

Like I said it will probably be open Beta before I can get the computers. Will have to see what kind of retail packs they have then. Money is tight for us right now but the internet cafe s picking up, still I wont have money for a founder pack for a couple months at best. We've just been in bussiness for about 3 months.

I showed my tech a bunch of the videos and he is excited about it if we can get the better computers. We just hope that its not too important to pay monthly. I myself dont like monthly comitments but would consider ocasional packs (when we have extra money) or an anual thing if its reasonable.

you won't need to pay monthly to enjoy the game. you won't need to pay anything to get a normal experience.. Mechs can all be bought for free (c-bills), premium time gives you bonus XP and C-bills but without premium time you will get the same content but it will take some more grinding.

[JustMe SR]

If computers in your internet cafe are good enough to run Crysis 2 on the highest setting, then yes. It is good game for your internet cafe.

(Just look at the game...its CryEngine 3 at the best)

[littlejohn33]

Well I have found some youtube videos of Llanos playing Crysis 2 and it looks ok. People here are used to playing games on low settings since no one can aford real gaming computers. but it wouldnt make the nice gaming experience I want to put out.

I wish AMD would get thier butts in gear and get the Trinitys out but still it would be 6 months till their reasonably priced.

Edited by littlejohn33, 01 September 2012 - 04:46 PM.

[Joe Luck]

MWO would be a great game for an internet Cafe.

I recommend a i5 Quad core, 8GB RAM, and AMD 7850 minimum for this game for future proofing if you were to buy this month, otherwise wait for the $250 graphics card price point around christmas. Cryengine 3 has yet to truly be put through it's paces yet

Also, do you use simple usb mice? This is a game that is and will be button happy. Which is the nature of a sim type game. Simple 2 button usb mice are a liability in my view. Though it's a personal preference I'd suggest 5 buttons total(left/right, scroll, two by thumb). If you look a the screen shots the weapon groupings can go up to 6.

Just my two cents...

[WithSilentWings]

I don't think you guys are getting it... it's not a very high-res monitor and if you do the math, it will cost MUCH more to purchase high-end components now to "future proof" than it will to buy this set of computers now, and a whole new set in a few years.

An i5, 8gb and 7850 has many other implications, such as requiring a good PSU and an expensive motherboard.

You DEFINITELY want to go the route of an A8-3870K for this type of application as it will be HUGELY cost effective. Think about this: 19" monitor AND system that can play MWO for $370. Please, someone put together an i5 build with 8gb and 7850 that will cost less than HALF of this. Then, in 3 or 5 years, when the "i5 futureproofing" comes into play, look at the cost of another new system to beat the **** out of that original i5--I guarantee it will be $500 or less, AND it means the cafe ends up with twice as many computers, half of which are still able to play older or other FTP games.

Gaming on a 19" monitor is much less demanding and you DO NOT needs a 7850 as a minimum at all. A 7870 can run this game on 3x1080p monitors.


I do agree that having a decent 4 or 5 button mouse will help a lot with weapon groups. I could imagine a very frustrating experience with only 2 mouse buttons. If you can click the wheel, that's at least something and you may get away with just 3 buttons.

Edited by WithSilentWings, 04 September 2012 - 08:36 AM.

[AlienInvader]

Well OP try world of tanks first, it's almost the same concept free-2-pay game as MWO, its team-based pvp with progression, but with tanks. There is a large community of flips on world of tanks, in a clan called PVP (phillipine vanguards of peace). Maybe you should contact them in the world of tanks clan forums.

And if that brings in business, then MWO will bring in business also.

Edited by AlienInvader, 04 September 2012 - 11:12 AM.